Sometimes we forget how lucky we are...

I was just reading the latest about the Nigerian woman senteced to death by stoning:Nigertian Stoning Appeal Heard. Makes one appreciate the society we live in, despite all of its problems.

BTW, if anyone wants more details on this case, there is a great website: Amina Lawal

One of the things I find striking (besides the mere fact of a woman sentenced to stoning for no reason other than having an out-of-wedlock baby!) is that the man she named as the father would only have been convicted if he either confessed, or if there were 4 witnesses against him. As for her -- well, her baby is proof enough of her guilt!

It's actually a bit more complex. We can only put pressure on the Nigerian federal governement. They are actually opposed to such shows of Muslim Sharia law as stonings. In fact, the governement does try to step in to prevent such sentences. However, according to the Nigerian constitution, individual states have a considerable amount of independence. From the states' perspective, the federal governement telling it not to stone a woman to death would be like the US governement telling Texas not to execute someone. Granted, the US supreme court does do it sometimes (as in telling Texas it cannot execute a mentally retarded person), but we know how the states resent such interference. Unfortunately, the international community cannot excert pressure on the states directly. And the Nigerian governement end up finding itself in a precarious position: they want to make nice with the outside world, but have to make sure individual states are content and won't start a civil war or something.